


And are we there yet?

by InkandOwl



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Moving In Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 11:03:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19333252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkandOwl/pseuds/InkandOwl
Summary: Nico buys a new house, fills it with all of Levi's favorite things, and finally with Levi“You decorated half of this house with things I like and you’re building a bookshelf for my books. You put flower boxes with my favorite flowers outside, why?” He doesn’t ask him with anger or with accusation, because he’s not feeling any of those things, but it doesn’t stop Nico from glancing down at the water between them and shrugging.“I guess I wanted this house to feel like yours too.” It’s a quiet admission and Levi laughs.He puts his hands on the sides of Nico’s face and tilts it up to look at him, “Do you want me to move in with you?”There’s a chance that Levi’s gotten this wrong. That Nico’s simply an accommodating boyfriend that doesn’t mind Levi’s things inhabiting his house when he visits, and that chance sets Levi’s nerves alight. Nico’s eyes flick upwards to meet his though and he grins, crooked and insecure, “I was trying to be subtle about it.”





	And are we there yet?

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a fic and Levi didn't cry, although it was almost a close thing!

Nico is out of breath when he heaves himself into the plastic chair in the cafeteria. They’re not the worst chairs in the world but Nico isn’t a small man. Levi chews carefully on the sandwich in his mouth and raises his eyebrows as a means of communication. Casey holds his hand up slightly, “Hi, Dr. Kim.” 

Nico’s phone is being held, awkwardly in suspension while he’s torn between telling Levi whatever it is that had him running here, and acknowledge the greeting. “Hi, Casey!” He chirps and his excited mood makes Levi laugh when he finally swallows his food, “You don’t have to call me— you know, just Nico is fine. Please.” 

The please on the end is a desperate attempt to cut the formalities. “Hi, Dr. Kim.” Levi twists the lid off his water bottle and grins. 

Nico huffs out a laugh, not even rising to the bait of teasing, and now Levi’s almost concerned, “Hey, so I found this property listing on Zillow, it’s a 2/1 and it’s right outside of Seattle so the price is—” Nico pinches his fingers together in front of his lips and makes a kissing sound, “I really like the layout.” 

He slides his phone in front of Levi. Nico had brought up looking for a new place a couple nights ago— the apartment he’s currently in was supposed to act as a temporary roof over his head while he was in his fellowship year. Levi swipes through the photos. It’s sort of surprising, the entire aesthetic of the place. It’s a cute little home with dark wood floors and warmly painted walls with flower boxes on the windows. Levi furrows his eyebrows together and makes a quiet ‘huh’ sound. 

Nico fidgets, which comes off as a loud gesture overall and Levi glances up at him. He looks worried, “You don’t like it?”

Levi looks down at the phone, where the decorative backsplash of the kitchen sink is looking back at him and he shakes his head, “No— I mean, yeah, I like it it’s a cute place, I just didn’t think this was really your style is all. Your apartment now is so modern and, you know— chic.” 

Casey snorts next to him and Nico seems hugely distressed, “I know, but it’s not really a _home_. I don’t just want a place to fall asleep at night anymore.” 

Levi makes more humming noises and checks out the specs listed for the property, “Okay, well, I’m off on Thursday if you want me to come with you to look at it. You’re way too nice and you’ll need me to ask the realtor all the questions they’re not going to want to go over like, ‘I understand that the sceptic system was inspected but when was the cover changed?’. Those things deteriorate, you know?” Levi waves his finger in Nico’s face and Nico lights up. 

He nods happily, “Hey, with that yard w— I can get a dog.” Nico promptly shut his mouth and swallows. 

Casey gets a little tense next to Levi and it throws off the atmosphere of the place. Levi feels like there’s an imminent threat that Casey’s military training has perceived and they’re all in grave danger. Maybe he has a missile honing system built into him. “Something big and energetic would suit you.” Levi tries to break up the strangeness but it falls flat. 

Nico taps the back of Levi’s knuckles, “I have to be in surgery soon, I’ll see you after?” 

“Yeah, definitely.” Levi squeezes his fingertips before he leaves. 

He’s watching him go when Casey clears his throat, “Finally moving out of mom’s basement then?” 

Often times, when people say words to Levi, it takes a long time for them to catch up with his brain. He squints at his water and then turns his head to Casey, “What?” 

And then it’s Casey’s turn to be absolutely appalled by Levi’s lack of comprehension and he gestures after Nico, “You’re going house hunting, which I _assume_ means you’re not going to be in a split custody arrangement with your boyfriend and your mom.” 

“Oh.” Levi says quietly and then it clicks, “Oh! Oh, no, that’s not what this is. The house is Nico’s, I’m just helping him out with it so that he doesn’t put down an offer on a place with black mold or something.” 

“I don’t think that’s what Nico is—” Casey has his very serious, very concerned friend face on and both of their pagers go off. 

Taryn trots past the cafeteria in a hybrid sort of speed walk run, that she’s definitely hoping won’t get her yelled at by Webber, “Trauma!” She holds her thumbs up to both of them, “It’s a trauma!” 

She’s been very invested in these lately and Levi makes a mental note to ask Taryn is she has big plans to switch her focus out of general. 

#

Nico is all nervous energy as he puts his car in park. He takes a deep breath and grips the steering wheel. “Hi, hello, are you nervous?” Levi leans forward, practically over the dash so that he can see Nico’s face. 

It’s getting cold outside, and Nico has a floppy beanie pulled over his head, tufts of messy black hair poking out the front of it and Levi feels incredibly fond. “A little bit, is that weird?” He blinks, his dark lashes distracting for Levi, “I feel like a grown up now.” 

“You’re twenty-nine.” Levi reminds him. The realtors’ station wagon pulls in behind them and Levi grips Nico’s leg, giving it a squeeze, “Let’s go be adults.” 

His scarf is shoved up on the dash, pressed up against the windshield and Levi grabs it, nearly getting caught up in it when he piles out of the car. The outside of the house is a lot cuter in person, and Levi takes a moment to really look at it while Nico greets the realtor. The exterior is well maintained, with a garden walkway leading to the crisp white front door. There’s a brick halfway up the structure and a pleasant crawl of ivy. It looks like the sort of home that would be in a movie— a house that looks great in wide shots that pan in to some artist type working in the living room in tortoise shell glasses. 

When Nico comes up next to him and puts his arm around Levi’s shoulder, Levi looks up at him and grins, “This place is really— lovely. Is that the word I’m looking for?” 

Nico tilts his head side to side, “That’s a good word for it.” 

The realtor’s shoes scrape up the driveway and Levi glances back at her while she holds her hand up, “Hello, there! I’m Katherine, and you are—?”

Levi turns around, still pressed into Nico’s side. He holds his hand out, “I’m Levi.” He smiles while Katherine shakes his hand just a little too tightly. 

She looks between them in a way that’s meant to be subtle but comes off the exact opposite, “Levi, it’s a pleasure, and I’m thrilled you be working with you and your— partner.” 

Levi can’t help the hysterical burst of laughter that comes out of him and he turns it into a coughing fit. Nico pats him harshly on the back, “I brought the approval letter in case we’re doing an offer today. Figured I would just get all of that out of the way to save us some headache.” He produces the envelope from his jacket pocket and hands it over to the realtor. 

Katherine seems all around incredibly thrilled with them. She opens the letter and does an impressive facial journey when she looks at how much Nico is approved for, “You know, with this salary you could get something in a much higher price range. There’s a great new complex of condos going up in the downtown area, it’s right near all the nightlife—”

She’s rambling— an amount that makes even Levi a little uncomfortable, and he can tell already that she’s going to be disappointed in not making a better commission off of Nico. Levi runs his fingers lightly up Nico’s arm, “You wanna look inside?” He asks him quietly, no real concern for the exciting benefits of living in the city that Katherine is rattling off. 

Nico glances back at the house and then down at Levi. The corner of his mouth twitches with the hint of a smile and he nods, “Hey, Katherine, do you mind if we look inside?” 

She looks sadly at the house, takes in a deep breath, and sighs. “Yeah—” she puts on her best selling smile again, “Let’s go ahead and see what this place has to offer.” 

#

Levi stretches his legs out on the hardwood floor as he digs through the box in front of him, “How come I never knew you had so many books?” He digs through the Stephen King titles resting on top and holds one in the air. 

Nico pokes his head out from the kitchen and wields a latte mug in his direction. Levi knows that he doesn’t actually use them, just keeps them stacked about the spice rack for the aesthetic, “I didn’t really have anywhere to put them in that apartment. It was small and putting anything out made it look all clutter-y.” 

It’s valid and Levi starts stacking them in piles on the floor, right in front of the fireplace that Nico had been so excited to point out to Levi back when they were still just checking the house out. Levi runs his hand fondly over the cover of the next book he fishes out of the box and makes a noise of longing, “Oh, Terry Pratchett.” 

He was fairly certain he had said it quietly, but Nico makes his way carefully back over to him and sits down cross legged, “You can actually take that one back home with you— I got it when you told me your copy of The Long Mars got water damage and I didn’t want you to be missing one in the series. Completely forgot about giving it to you with all the moving.” 

Levi looks down at the book in his lap. 

He’s sitting in Nico’s new home, a quaint, domesticated place with a picture shelf and a planter next to his record player, holding a book that Nico bought for him. Levi swallows and lets his thumbs brush over the embossed letters, “Did you— did you want to read it?” He offers quietly. 

Sometimes, when Nico isn’t in his very serious surgery mode or trying to be an all out _bro_ with his _bro_ type friends, he gets this very kind sort of soft look on his face. One that makes his eyes go gentle and his lips pout together just slightly. No matter how long they’re together, it never fails to make it difficult for Levi to breathe when he sees it. He turns that look to Levi now and says, “Yeah, now that I’m finally settling in, I can start reading again.” 

It’s been dark out for the time of day it is, so it’s no surprise when the soft hiss of rain starts on the shingled roof and Levi looks up, as if he’ll be able to feel the water through an entire structure. It’s all very soothing. “I’ll bring you the first book, you can just keep this one here for now.” 

Nico nods and watches Levi in that way that makes him feel like he’s entirely on the stand. All of his secrets and his fears and his wants are there to be scrutinized and pulled apart for what they are, but with Nico— he’s not afraid of it. Not anymore. Finally, Nico leans forward and grabs Levi’s ankles, pulling him hard enough that Levi has to throw his hands back to keep from falling backwards on the floor. 

There’s some general repositioning, and Nico drapes Levi’s legs over the tops of his own thighs and leans forward to kiss Levi softly. 

Levi is operating under the assumption that this is going to be just a quick, sweet peck, but Nico brings his hand up to Levi’s cheek and strokes his thumb over his jaw. He kisses him and kisses him and kisses him until Levi laughs against Nico’s mouth, “Are you happy?” He leans back just enough that he can look at Nico’s face. 

Nico opens his eyes with a sigh, “Yeah. I am but something feels— weird.” 

“Weird?” 

“Just— off.” And then Nico smiles. Tired and small. 

Levi brushes his fingers through Nico’s hair, “Moving is always strange, you’ll feel better once you have all of your stuff in here.” 

It’s meant to be a reassurance, but it only ends up throwing a complicated look across Nico’s expression. He looks around the living room— at the TV sitting on the floor and the half built Ikea shelf in the middle of it. “I’m tired, do you want to take a nap?” Nico pulls Levi to his feet. 

“Can I be the big spoon?” He puts the book into Nico’s hands. 

Nico laces their fingers together, “You can try.” 

He winks at Levi, ignoring Levi’s indignation and he places the book on top of his nightstand, upright so that the spine is facing out. 

 

#

 

“Congrats on your new house!” Dalia is covered in blood. Her trauma gown is more of a reddish brown than yellow now, and it’s clashing hideously with her megawatt smile. 

Levi struggles to pull his gloves off, sticky from being shoved inside of an open chest cavity, “What?” He furrows his brows in an attempt at concentration. 

“Your house. The one you got with Nico, I saw the pictures of it on Facebook.” Dalia chirps, “I’m a little miffed that you didn’t tell me you were getting a place before, but it’s fine, I get it. You were all wrapped up in the excitement of moving that you forgot to inform your dearest bestest friend in the entire world.” 

She’s practically twirling, her hips swinging side to side. Levi huffs out a laugh, “I didn’t tell you because it’s not my house, it’s Nico’s.” 

He’s finally gotten his gloves off and he shrugs all of his bloody garbs into the biohazard bin. Dalia’s face falls to something complicated and almost sad, “You mean, like, his name is the one on the title, or whatever?”

“Not ‘whatever’—” There’s a little blood on Levi’s scrub top and he sighs, pulling that off too, “I’m saying he got the house on his own to live in on his own with all of his own electricity bills and wifi and apparently, flower boxes.” Levi looks down at his white undershirt only to find the tiny speck of blood. “Oh, come on.” He groans. 

Dalia’s eyes get very round and pitying, “Are you two okay? I didn’t— Did you break up?” Her voice drops to an almost whisper, like Levi might start crying.

This entire conversation is strange and unsettling, “Dalia, no. We didn’t break up, we’ve never lived together.” It’s a fact. Something that Levi has always lived with and never actually been upset about. Not entirely. But saying it out loud twists up in Levi’s chest and suddenly he finds himself swallowing back something much more painful. “I mean— I stay over all the time and I have a spare toothbrush there, so it’s not a big deal.” 

If he’s saying it more for himself than Dalia, she doesn’t seem to take notice. She just nods carefully, “Levi, you guys have been together a year.” 

It’s not a question, or a statement, it’s an entire accusation and Levi feels defensive. And defeated, “And three months, yeah.” He plucks at his shirt, “I gotta go, I’ll see you in the pit.” 

Levi feels like his walk to the locker room is under heavy scrutiny. Maybe Nico just wants his space. It’s understandable— a lot of people need their own place to be alone and decompress. Levi can’t ask Nico to give that up. Or maybe Nico just doesn’t want _Levi_ in his space. 

 

When Levi comes through the front door, his mom actually seems surprised to see him there, which stings in a way that could only happen when Levi is feeling particularly self conscious. That his boyfriend doesn’t want him living with him and his mom doesn’t expect him. 

“Is everything alright?” Is what his mom says, forgoing a ‘Hello’ or ‘Take your shoes off, I don’t want you tracking dirt in here’. 

Levi frowns, “Yeah, I’m fine, why?” 

She looks around as if there’s hidden cameras on her waiting to tell her she’s being pranked, “Uh, no reason I guess. How was work?”

This is more familiar. This is a line of questioning that Levi can stick to, even if it feels slightly forced. 

When Levi is laying in bed after the longest shower he’s taken since adolescence, and he gets a text from Nico that says, ‘Hey, should I be expecting you tonight?’, it makes him feel incredibly lonely. 

Levi starts to type back, ‘Thought I would give you some time to be in your new place without me being in the way’, but he ends up deleting it and writes instead, ‘Under the weather after a long shift and way too many traumas. Didn’t want you to catch anything’. He adds a little sick emoji at the end just so Nico doesn’t think he’s upset with him. 

Nico send back a sad face and then, ‘Feel better, and tell me if you need anything. I love you.’ 

Levi types an ‘I love you’ back and a string of hearts and curls up on his too large bed by himself and falls into a fitful sleep. 

 

#

 

Levi is not always the most observant man. He knows that. He would be the first to admit it. 

He likes to think, however, that with age and becoming a surgeon, he’s a lot more attentive. Which is why he stops feeling sorry for himself and starts paying attention to his surroundings. Namely, Nico’s house. 

It had started with a trip to Target. 

Levi had run his fingers over the decorative linen of teal curtains that were meant to hang over kitchen windows. “I like this, it’s so cheerful.” He had said, admiring the yellow sunflowers embroidered into it. 

And then, a few days later, he noticed them hanging over the kitchen sink. 

The brand of face wash he uses, the row of his coats hanging up on the left side of Nico’s closet, his favorite type of cold brew he gets from Whole Foods when he has a little extra money to splurge. All things that manifest around Nico’s home without Levi bringing them over or asking. 

It’s not until he comes over with his arms full of groceries so that he can make them dinner for once instead of getting fast food, that he finds Nico in the second bedroom, putting together an intricate design of shelves. 

“This looks complicated.” Levi looks up at the unfinished wood already anchored into the wall. 

Nico wipes the sweat off his forehead with his shirt, “I was going to just buy some bookshelves, but I thought it would be kind of cool to just build our own.” 

There it is. The _our_ that slips out of Nico’s mouth without him putting a second thought to it. 

“This is a lot of shelves.” Levi tries to bite back a smile, “You don’t have this many books.” 

Nico leans back on his hands and goes for a nonchalant shrug, “Yeah, but you do.” 

Levi nods, he feels incredibly light, “I put some stuff in the crock pot, do you want to take a bath?” 

“With you?” Nico sits up straighter and Levi laughs. 

“Yeah I guess we can both cram in there.”

The bathtub is fairly large, but Nico is not a man built to share it. Levi doesn’t mind having to carefully position himself between Nico’s legs though. It give him and excuse to lean back on his chest and sink into the water. 

Nico scratches at his scalp and then dumps a handful of water on top of his head, but Levi doesn’t care. He’s very sleepy. And he says so out loud because Nico laughs and kisses his temple, “Me too. We’re old men.” 

It’s comfortable like this— slowly decompressing in a warm bath while his boyfriend plays with his hair. Never mind that it’s probably being teased into a disaster, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, “Nico?” 

“Hmm?” Nico squeezes him with his thighs as a strange sort of acknowledgement. 

“Why did you buy those curtains? The ones in the kitchen?” Levi runs his hands over the tops of Nico’s knees, which poke high out of the water. 

Nico makes a thoughtful noise, which Levi has come to recognize as his stalling noise. He doesn’t lie though when he says, “You liked them in the store.” 

Levi sits up, struggles to turn in the bathtub, but finally manages to get himself facing Nico, “Do you like them?” 

Nico narrows his eyes and laughs, “Yes? Levi, what are you doing?” 

“You decorated half of this house with things I like and you’re building a bookshelf for my books. You put flower boxes with my favorite flowers outside, why?” He doesn’t ask him with anger or with accusation, because he’s not feeling any of those things, but it doesn’t stop Nico from glancing down at the water between them and shrugging.

“I guess I wanted this house to feel like yours too.” It’s a quiet admission and Levi laughs. 

He puts his hands on the sides of Nico’s face and tilts it up to look at him, “Do you want me to move in with you?” 

There’s a chance that Levi’s gotten this wrong. That Nico’s simply an accommodating boyfriend that doesn’t mind Levi’s things inhabiting his house when he visits, and that chance sets Levi’s nerves alight. Nico’s eyes flick upwards to meet his though and he grins, crooked and insecure, “I was trying to be subtle about it.” 

Levi kisses him hard and laughs, “You have to ask me.” He says it against Nico’s lips and sloshes half a gallon of water over the side of the tub rearranging himself in Nico’s lap. 

“Levi,” Nico pushes the terrible number he’s done to Levi’s hair out of his face, “Do you want to move in with me?”

Levi nods and leans heavily into a kiss. He feels like he might start crying, the relief in his chest unwinding. It’s been like having a home but not being allowed to call it that, and Levi doesn’t feel so adrift anymore. 

 

#

Levi is sitting on the bed, folding laundry and watching TV when Nico comes home and drops his overnight bag on the floor. He’d had back to back surgeries to fill in for Link while he was on vacation. “How was work?” Levi looks away from the screen and watches Nico unbutton his shirt. 

“Long. The longest. What are you watching?”

“Murder Mountain. It’s a docuseries on Humboldt County about, you know— weed farmers and murder.” Levi waves a pair of clean boxers at the screen and Nico glances over to look at it. “I thought I would enjoy have two days off in a row, but it was pretty boring without you here. I swear they put our schedules like this on purpose. I got weeding done in the front yard but you’re going to have to mow it. I can’t move that thing out of the garage.” 

Nico is quiet, holding his soft, overwashed t-shirt that he wears to bed against his chest. It’s not that Levi is going to complain about him being shirtless, but he is about to ask what’s wrong when Nico shakes his head and says, “It’s so nice to be home.” 

He drops the shirt and climbs onto the bed, sending the tower of laundry into disarray, but Levi doesn’t find it in himself to care when Nico pushes him back on the bed and crawls over the top of him.


End file.
